Rogue Villain-Chapter 239: Jumping

Wilma glared at Ackster with eyes of blame and continued before he could answer.

"Seriously! As soon as I take my eyes off you, you skedaddle right into the arms of death and give them a big, sloppy kiss! Can’t you treasure yourself a little more?!"

"Uh...I’ve only been training a little harder than usual—"

"You think I can’t tell? You’re strong now, no doubt about it. But you weren’t even close to this level just a short while ago. This kind of rapid growth doesn’t come without a corresponding price. And knowing you, you’ve been a little too careless with your life."

Wilma was a little calmer in tone, but her eyes were still full of swirling emotions as she chastised Ackster for his recklessness.

"Isn’t this strength what you wanted me to have, though?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Ackster could tell Wilma was talking from a point of concern. But it wasn’t like he had a choice. If he could, Ackster would have happily taken it easy on a beach somewhere for the rest of his life. But he couldn’t have that luxury. He was the only one who knew of the world’s end in seven years. And he was the only one who could stop it.

If Ackster had to risk his life to save it, he would. And it wasn’t that much of a risk when he was confident he would survive. By now, it would take something incredibly powerful to kill him permanently.

Wilma sighed. She realized Ackster wasn’t susceptible to reproach, even if she meant well. Besides, she had known Ackster was in a rush for strength from the beginning. She shouldn’t be surprised he took a couple of shortcuts. But she still wondered why Ackster was still so desperate when he was already touching the top echelons of the world.

"That’s true, I guess. But I was willing to wait at least another several years for you to become as strong as you are now. If you’re rushing because you want to pay me and the Guild back, don’t. There’s no need."

"Sure."

Ackster wasn’t going to tell Wilma he was rushing so he would be strong enough to defeat The Hero in seven years. So, he changed the subject.

"Anyway, you mentioned something about me returning the favor, right? What do you need me to do?"

Although Wilma didn’t like Ackster’s method of growing stronger, she couldn’t deny that he was an asset now, and those had to be put to use, especially when trouble came knocking.

"You’ll find out when we get there."

"We’re going at once?"

"Why? You have another lady waiting somewhere for your return?"

"No. I was hoping we could get me a weapon somewhere."

Wilma looked Ackster up and down, only now noticing his missing hand. She massaged her forehead.

"First of all, what is that?"

She pointed at his nub.

"An experiment."

Ackster retrieved the hand from his inventory.

"See? I want to know how long it takes for me to regenerate a limb."

Wilma sighed.

"What are you going to do with a weapon when your body is one? And it would take too long to make a weapon that can handle you. Besides, didn’t you learn how to fight from Bo? I don’t think he taught you anything you need weapons for. If you think you need, you just aren’t good enough."

Ackster nodded.

"I see. I guess I get where you’re coming from. But Bo didn’t teach me just any martial arts. As far as I can tell, I can pair it with any weapon I like and do what I can with my fists with my weapon of choice."

Wilma raised an eyebrow as she looked at Ackster.

"...What did he teach you?"

"He called it the Unimportant Whatever Arts, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fake name."

"I don’t recognize it. Obviously. But there’s probably a reason why Bo didn’t tell you. What does it do?"

"Ripples, I guess. My strikes, when powered with mana, create ripples of force that disintegrate my opponents. And when I reinforce my body with mana, attacks up to a certain level are nullified and turned into ripples."

"...Huh?"

"I’m pretty sure it does more, but that’s the basics."

"The basics? It sounds difficult as fuck to learn. What do you mean by ’ripples’? Like, what do you do with your mana to do that?"

"I just do what Bo taught me. There are these fundamental moves, and when I execute them, I get a sense for what to do with my mana, so I do that."

"Ludicrous. And you learned this in what? A year?"

"Something like that. The timeline’s a bit foggy since I’ve been busy."

"Ugh."

Wilma looked at Ackster in mock disgust. She knew firsthand what kind of psychotic training Bo gave to people he deemed capable. She also knew he wouldn’t teach the ones he taught anything ordinary. Ackster’s martial art was definitely far from weak, which meant it was just as difficult to understand.

But here Ackster, who got a sense for it after swinging his fist around for a while, was.

"Anyway, I didn’t come looking for you because of your offensive might. That part is already settled. It’s your sturdiness and, well, self-recovery abilities."

Ackster felt a chill run down his spine as Wilma avoided meeting his eyes.

"My self-recovery abilities?"

"Well..."

Ackster continued prying, not giving in to Wilma’s attempts at changing the topic or talking about what he had been up to after Bo’s island. The fact that Wilma was so stubborn clearly wasn’t a good sign. It was only Ackster’s trust in Wilma and that she wouldn’t let him suffer needlessly or do something that would end up with him dead that stopped him from leaving the hot air balloon.

He could see the ocean below them. With his Sea God mana, affinity for water, Hydro Affinity, sturdiness, and recovery abilities, he would live, even from their current height. He was also confident he could jump before Wilma could stop him.

When she saw that Ackster was already halfway out of the hot air balloon’s basket, she finally caved and gave him some more details.